Shuttle box operating mechanism



July 16, 1968 G. A. SUNDQUIST, JR, ETAL 3,392,757

SHUTTLE BOX OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 14. 1966 INVENTORS 54 WILLIAM R FANNING j g GUSTAF A. SUNDQUIS JR. 4 IS F! Mm United States Patent 3,392,757 SHUTTLE BOX OPERATING MECHANISM Gustaf A. Sundquist, Jr., Lake Road, RED. 1, Brookfield, Mass. 01506, and William P. Fanning, 32 Monroe Ave., Worcester, Mass. "01602 Filed Oct. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 586,735 9 Claims. (Cl. 139-171) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shuttle box operating mechanism, wherein the shuttle boxes are shifted by a pair of box lifter rods and a connector which'is connected between the rods so as to exert a balanced stable lifting force to the boxes at their center of gravity.

This invention relates to the shuttle box shifting mechanism of a loom.

Looms of the type to which the invention relates employ a gang of shuttle boxes movable to place any one of several shuttles in active position with respect to the shuttle race of a loom lay. The gang is supported on a box lifter rod which extends down to an elevating means generally including an upright connector leading up to a box lifting lever. The rod and connector are attached to each other by a part which extends horizontally to operatively relate the lower end of the rod to the connector. The connector exerts a lifting force through said part on the rod and in doing so tends to twist the rod.

Tongue and groove guides are provided for the gang comprising grooved parts mounted on the loom lay and tongue parts on the gang to fit int-o the grooves. Due to the twist in the rod the gang occasionally resists a free sliding movement when it is acted on as by -a lifting force with the result that the oncoming shuttle will not be properly boxed and a faulty operation of the loom will occur. It is the general object of this invention to provide means which will prevent the aforesaid twisting of said rod and thus insure free sliding movement of said gang. The general effect of this improvement in the shifting of the gang is to permit higher loom speed and also allow the gang to make larger shifts. Heretofore, it has been difficult if not impossible to make a full box shift from box one to box four if the gang has four boxes except at speeds which are too low for present day efificient operation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide the loom with a pair of box lifter rods with the lifting force for the gang applied between the rods in such manner as to eliminate the previously mentioned twisting.

It is a further object of the invention to provide two lifter rods so placed that the center of gravity of the shuttle box gang, considered lengthwise of the lay, is intermediate said rods.

With these and other objects in view the invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE '1 is a front elevation of the left hand end of a loom with the invention applied thereto,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic end elevation showing the relation of the box lifter rods and the box lifter lever,

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary front elevation of the lower ends of the box lifter levers,

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section on line 44, FIG- U RE 3,

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale on line 55, FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of the connector between 3,392,757 Patented July 16, 1968 "ice the lifter lever and lower end of the lifter rods looking in the direction of arrow 6, FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 7 is a diagrammatic view of the support for attachment to the upper ends of the lifter rods and associated parts.

Referring to FIGURES 1, 3 and 6, one of the loomsides LS is shown in FIGURE 1 as supporting the left end of a breast beam 1. A lay sword 2 supports a lay 3 and rocks about a rocker shaft 4 as the lay swings backwardly and forwardly. The lay is of usual construction and has a lay end 5 which supports inner and outer shuttle box guides 10 and 11, respectively, between which moves a gang G of shuttle boxes, four boxes or cells A1, A2, A3 and A4 as shown in FIGURE 1. The guides have grooves 12 to receive tongues 13 on the gang.

A box lifter lever of any desired form, shown at 15 in FIGURES 1 and 2, is capable of assuming four different positions, one for each cell in the gang. The lever is intermediate two box lifter rods 16 and 17 forming part of the invention and to be described in more detail hereinafter. A connector 18 is attached to lever 15 at its upper end and its lower end is operatively connected to the pivotal connection 20.

As shown in FIGURE 4 the connection 20 includes a bearing or bore 21 in the lower end of the connector 18, or more specifically in part 55 forming the lower end of connector 18, see FIGURES 3 and 6. A member 22 has a hole 23 therethrough for the lower end of rod 16 and has a cylindrical part 24 to fit in the bore 21 and has a part 25 extending beyond bore 21. A second member 26 has a hole 27 to receive the lower end of the other rod 17. Member 26 has a bore 28 into which the extension 25 of cylindrical part 24 projects and is held by set screw 29. Upper nuts 30 and lower nuts 31 are threaded onto the screw threads 32 at the lower ends of rods 16 and 17, respectively. The parts 22 and 26 have shoulders 22A and 26A, respectively, which snugly fit against the lower end 55 of connector 18 having the part 32'. The cylindrical part 24 of member 22 is free to turn in part 32'. The set screw 29 fits into a cylindrical groove 33 cut into the extended end 25 of cylinder 24.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 5 it will be seen that the part of lever 15 which projects between rods 16 and 17 is made with two ends 35 and 36 defining a slot 37 between them which receives the upper end 38 of connector 18. This end 38 is pivotally connected to lever 15 as shown in FIGURE 5 by two cooperating pivot parts 39 and 40. Part 40 has a head 41 from which extends a bearing 42 which projects through end 35 and across slot 37 through the upper end of connector 18 and into end 36 of the box lifting lever 15, see the left hand side of FIGURE 5. The bearing 42 is provided with a screw threaded bore 43 into which fits a screw 44 extending from a cylindrical part 45 of a second pivot part 46 having a head 47. The screw 44 is threaded tightly into bore 43 and pivot part 40 is held to lever end 35 by a lock washer 48.

The gang G has secured to the underside thereof a support 50 having a depending part 51 provided with two holes 52 and 53 corresponding to the two rods 16 and 17, respectively. Each rod is formed with a rod head 54 and each rod head has an attaching means such as a screw 56 extending therethrough and having a head 57 at the front end. Screw 56 of rod 17 fits snugly in hole 53, but hole 52 is larger than hole 53 and screw 56 of rod 16 fits into hole 52 for adjustment in a vertical direction to vary the angle of the boxes relative to the race plate 58. The outer or left hand end of the active shuttle box as viewed in FIGURE 1 of the gang G is usually higher than the inner or right hand end, which in turn is slightly higher than the race plate.

As viewed in FIGURE 2 gang G is shown in full lines at front center and in dotted lines on back center, the box lever .15 in this latter position projecting forwardly of and between the rods 16 and 17.

Most box looms are made with some provision for interrupting the driving connection between the box lifting lever and the box lifter rod in the event, for instance, that the picker stick at the opposite end of the loom should break. US. Patent No. 2,523,648 granted to Darwin shows such a construction, and the structure shown herein in FIGURE 6 follows generally the yielding means of that patent, although changes are made to permit higher loom speeds. The connector 18 includes the rod head 38 shown in FIGURE 5, the lower end of which has threaded into it the upper end of rod 65 (see FIGURE 1), the lower end of which is slidab'le in the part 55, although normally the parts 55 and 38 are fixed with respect to each other by a detent 66 pivoted at 67 and having a pointed head 68 normally held in a notch 69. A spring 70 normally holds the head 68 in the notch, but if excessive force is brought to bear between rod 65 and rods 16 and 17 the head 68 will slide out of notch 69.

Further reference can be made to the aforesaid patent for a more extended description of the structure shown in FIGURE 6.

The previously described rocker shaft has secured thereto a rocker iron 75 formed with an upstanding arm 76 having a horizontal bearing 77 through which lifter rod 16 extends for guidance as the lay swings back and forth. The bearing 77 swings with the lay and so do the upper ends of both rods 16 and 17 and the lower end of said rods tend to be held together by hearing 77 and the connection between rod 16 and the lifter 18 so that the rods 16 and 17 will tend to keep parallel as the lay reciprocates.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the vertical dot and dash line C-G passes through the center of gravity of gang G considered lengthwise of the lay, thus distrbuting the load on the rods 16 and 17 substantially equally when the box lifter lever raises the gang.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth means for preventing the twisting of a gang of shuttle boxes in the guides of a loom lay by mounting the gang on two rods which counteract each others tendency to twist when moved by the box lifter levers. Also, the lever is intermediate the lifter rods and any twisting effort by either rod will be balanced by the other rod. The lifting force exerted by the lifter connector will be divided between the rods 16 and 17 and there will be little chance for one rod to deliver more force than the other. The means constituting a pivotal connection is believed to be novel and made in such manner as to deliver equal forces to the two rods. Furthermore, the lengthwise center of gravity of the gang G lies intermediate the rods 16 and 17 to distribute the forces for moving the gang substantially equally.

What is claimed is:

1. In a loom having a lay, a gang of shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with respect to the lay and means on said lay for guiding said gang, means for shifting said shuttle boxes, comprising:

(a) a shiftable lever adapted to assume a different position for each of said boxes to selectively bring said boxes into register with said lay;

(b) a plurality of spaced box lifter rods, one end of said rods being fixed to said gang;

(c) connection means connecting and maintaining said lifter rods in a spaced relation at a point remote from said gang of shuttle boxes; and

(d) a connector, one end of which is pivotally connected to said shiftable lever and the other end of which is pivotally connected to said connection at a point between said lifter rods whereby shifting of said shiftable lever causes said shuttle boxes to shift with respect to said lay.

2. A loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein the pivotal connection includes a bearing in the connector, a stud member having a hole to receive one of said rods and provided with a cylindrical part fitting into and extending through and beyond said bearing, the pivotal connection including also a second member having a hole to receive the other rod and secured to said cylindrical part.

3. A loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein the said guiding means are parallel to each other and said rods are parallel to said guides.

4. A loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein the guiding means for the gang are on a lay which swings back and forth and as the lay swings rearwardly the box lifter rods pass to both sides of the part of the connector which is pivoted to said lever.

5. A loom as set forth in claim 4 wherein the lever has two parts between which said one end of the connector is located and two cooperating pivot forming parts both passing through said one end of the connector and screw threaded together, one of said latter parts having a head to engage one of the said parts of the lever and the other of said latter parts having a head to engage the other of said parts of the lever, said heads passing between said rods without engagement therewith.

6. A loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein the loom has a lay provided with a shuttle race plate and the gang moves substantially vertically to register each box thereof with said race plate, the gang having a depending sheet metal support secured thereto, said support having holes therein corresponding to the upper ends of said rods, said rods moving substantially vertically, one of said holes being smaller than the other, the upper end of each rod having an attaching means for said support, one attaching means for each hole in the support, the attaching means for the smaller hole fitting the latter snugly and the attaching means for the other of said holes fitting the latter loosely to permit setting of the boxes in inclined position with respect to said race plate.

7. A m as set forth in claim 1 wherein the guiding means are substantially vertically disposed on a backwardly and forwardly swinging lay and said pair of rods are arranged substantially vertically in the loom and'are effective to transmit forces to raise and lower said gang of shuttle boxes.

8. A loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rods are rigidly connected to said gang of shuttle boxes and are also rigidly connected to said means constituting a pivotal connection, and a yielding meansin said connector to interrupt transmission of excessive force between said lever and said rods.

9. The loom as set forth in claim 1 wherein the center of gravity of said gang is intermediate said lifter rods.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,811,435 6/1931 Lindegren 139-182 1,852,072 4/ 1932 Brickman 1-39182 2,523,648 9/1950 Darwin 139-336 2,929,411 3/1960 Kimmel 139182 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,002,856 11/ 1951 France.

885,076 8/ 1953 Germany.

3,291 1863 Great Britain. 351,918 12/ 1929 Great Britain. 612,617 8/ 1926 France.

I. KEE CHI, Assistant Examiner.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,392,757 July 16, 1968 Gustaf A. Sundquist, Jr. et a1.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, lines 3 to 5, "Gustaf A. Sundquist, Jr. Lake Road, R.P.D. 1, Brookfield,

Mass 01506 and William P. Fanning, 32 Monroe Ave Worcester, Mass. 01602" should read Gustaf A. Sundquist, Jr., Brookfield, and William P. Fanning, Worcester, Mass., assignors to Crompton G Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass.,

a corporation of Massachusetts Signed and sealed this 21st day of October 1969.

SEAL) Lttest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Commissioner of Patents Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Lttesting Officer 

